Never Falter
by Indythewolf
Summary: Jotaro is a strong, independent tough guy, who doesn't need help from anyone. He is also very, very sick. In which Jotaro is more or less forced to rely on the other crusaders for once. Rated T for a few curse words.


**A/N: Ok so this is just something I did for purely fun, selfish reasons. I've recently become way too obsessed with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and wrote this out of a desire to see Jotaro show some emotion other than stoic bitchiness. On that note, I think he is a relatively difficult character to write, and would love feedback on anything that seems OOC. In a way, this was a writing exercise for me. Also, I personally think that Jotaro is sort of the unofficial leader of the Stardust Crusaders, and that everyone else just kind of accepts that. Idk, maybe that's just me. Anyways, thanks for reading, hope you all enjoy!**

For what must have been the fiftieth time that afternoon, Jotaro shifted around in his seat, yanking on his shirt collar and pushing his head back into the car's not-so-comfortable cushion with a grunt. Kakyoin raised an annoyed eyebrow at him, adjusting his headphones to try and drown out the meddling ruffling. Jotaro must not have noticed the looks the other teen had been shooting him throughout the drive, because he didn't look up to respond with a colorful glare of his own. Instead, Kakyoin watched as he blinked rapidly and ran a hand briefly over his mouth, stifling a yawn. Kakyoin's eyebrows jumped even higher. That had been...soft. Jotaro never looked soft. Or sleepy, or anything along those lines for that matter. His friend's hat had shifted enough so that Kakyoin could see the dark circles under his eyes, made ever the more prominent by the desert sunlight steaming through the window. He chewed on the side of his cheek and pulled out a headphone, contemplating how Jotaro would react if called out on this strange development.

Cautiously, he reached out a hand and laid the backs of his fingers briefly against Jotaro's temple, finger tips just barely grazing the frizzy strands of hair that escaped the side of his hat. The taller boy tensed, but didn't pull away. Kakyoin frowned at the heat he felt radiating from Jotaro's skin, and pressed his palm fully against his forehead. Jotaro smacked his hand away.

"Ow," Kakyoin shot him a half-hearted glare, softened with concern, "I think you have a fever, JoJo. Are you feeling alright?"

Jotaro shot him an annoyed glance. "I'm fine, Kakyoin. Worry about yourself." He turned away, huffy as usual, and leaned his head against the window, pulling his hat down to fully cover his eyes.

Kakyoin drew his hand back and sighed, trying to decide what to do. On the one hand, Jotaro really looked like shit. Now that Kakyoin was really watching, he could see the slight shivers coursing through his broad shoulders, as well as a slight shudder in his breathing, as if it was difficult to draw in a deep breath. On the other hand, the older teen was obviously healthy enough to be pissy with him, and Kakyoin really did not want to try his luck with an extra irritable Jotaro. With a resigned sigh, he slipped his headphone back in and leaned his seat back, shutting his eyes to try and get some sleep on the drive. He told himself that Jotaro was fine, and was most certainly capable of taking care of himself.

Jotaro was in no way fine. There had been a constant buzz in his head since they'd started driving that morning, making his thoughts annoyingly swirled. He bit back a groan and pushed his head into the cool glass of the window, trying to get some relief from the personal heatwave that was seemingly engulfing him. For the past couple of hours, he'd been alternating between feeling unbearably hot and unbearably cold, struggling to contain both unusual sweating and uncomfortably strong bouts of shivering. He wasn't stupid; he knew he was coming down with something, had known for a while, in fact, but he hadn't been feeling more than a nagging ache until this morning, and by the time he'd thought to do something about it, he was too exhausted and confused to do more than try to sleep.

Kakyoin's concern was appreciated but unwelcome. Jotaro was not fond of people looking at him with worry - it struck him too much like pity. He let out a long sigh, which turned into a stifled cough half way through, and once again shifted to try and get comfortable. His body felt sluggish and disconnected, as if his mind was no longer fully able to control it. The buzzing in his head got louder as he attempted to prop it up to look and ensure that his body was, indeed, still attached to it. His head lulled back against the seat without his consent, and blackness (be it sleep or unconsciousness, he couldn't quite tell) swam over his vision and clouded his mind. He felt a sharp pang of concern, briefly bringing him back to a semblance of reality, and realized Star Platinum had appeared suddenly beside him.

"Ora!" It was in his mind, not out loud, and Jotaro was thankful that even in distress his stand could understand that this was a weakness Jotaro didn't want to broadcast to the entire car.

'Sorry, pal,' he thought back, fairly certain that Star Platinum couldn't even hear him, 'I'm...mm gonna have to go for a while.' The mere effort of thinking was exhausting, and he let the darkness take him.

Kakyoin woke suddenly, with the vague feeling that something was off. Rubbing his tired eyes, he cracked them open to see Hierophant Green's yellow gaze staring back at him. Startled to see the stand manifesting itself outside of his control, Kakyoin blinked and sat his chair up, nodding to the stand expectantly. Hierophant only raised a hand and pointed behind him, eyes shining with something Kakyoin himself couldn't quite place. He turned to see Star Platinum crouched in the seat beside him, hovering over a sleeping Jotaro and radiating anxious energy. Kakyoin blinked in surprise, it was unusual for any stand to come out while the user was sleeping, let alone Star Platinum, who had such a strong connection with Jotaro it was hard to determine if he was even able of acting solely for himself.

"Star? What's up?"

The large stand spared him only a sideways glance before turning back to his user, hands hovering over Jotaro's head and chest.

"Oh. Ooh, you're worried about Jotaro. Yeah, um, it's ok, Star Platinum, I've noticed too." He figured that the stand must be feeling the effects of whatever was going on with Jotaro, and was probably manifesting himself out of anxiety.

Kakyoin turned back to Hierophant Green, who was waiting obediently beside him. "Thanks, Hiero. I've got it from here." The green stand nodded once, and then was gone, sliding easily back into its user's shadow. Sighing in resignation, Kakyoin turned back to the task at hand. He really didn't want to wake Jotaro, especially after the cold shoulder he'd received earlier for trying to offer assistance to the obviously sick man. Jotaro was never exactly pleasant after being awoken, and Kakyoin didn't really want to test how an illness would add to that factor. But Star Platinum continued to fidget beside him, and Kakyoin knew the stand would continue to keep a frantic vigil until Jotaro woke up and reassured him himself.

Giving Star a polite gesture to move over, Kakyoin slid to the seat next to his slumbering friend and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, giving him a slight shake. "Hey, JoJo, wake up!" He was surprised at the sheer heat radiating from the older boy's skin, and, when Jotaro didn't so much as stir at his call, he placed a palm on his forehead once again. It was quickly retracted due to the heat there, and Kakyoin bit his bottom lip. 'He's burning up. Maybe I'll have to do more about this than I thought.'

Moving with a new sense of urgency, Kakyoin shook Jotaro again, slightly harder this time. "Hey, bud. Wake up for me." He shuffled around in the duffle bags on the floor board, discarding Joseph's alcohol filled flask before he found a half-empty water bottle and pulled it out. He needed to ensure JoJo was at least getting adequate hydration, maybe he'd see if Joseph or Polnareff had any fever-reducing medicine that he could entice him to take, then he'd leave the other teen be.

But Jotaro still didn't wake up, his eyes shifting rapidly under their lids. Kakyoin's lips pulled down into a concerned frown. "JoJo!" He yelled much louder now. Polnareff glanced at him briefly through the rear view mirror. "Wake up!" He gave Jotaro's shoulders a hard few shakes, but got nothing for his troubles; his teammate remained dead to the world. Kakyoin shook his head - this was so not what he needed on an already long road trip.

"Hey, Mr. Joestar, I think JoJo's sick."

Joseph pulled the car over a few miles outside of the next town, just off the mostly abandoned desert road. Both he and Polnareff turned around in the front seats to face Kakyoin. Avdol had gone on ahead to see if he could strike good relations with the townsfolk before they arrived, and, looking into his comrades' distraught expressions, Kakyoin wished someone else had gone instead. Avdol was not only the man with the most medical experience, he was also the most calm, and the most experienced in de-escalating an angry and confused Jotaro.

But he wasn't here, and Joseph and Polnareff looked as out of their depths as Kakyoin felt. Joseph broke the new-found silence first, his gaze falling briefly on the restless form of Star Platinum before he moved to get out of the car. "Alright, let's see what's up with my grandson here."

He came around to Jotaro's side of the car and yanked the door open, catching his grandson with one arm as the door fell out from where he's been leaning on it. "Oi!" Joseph's eyes widened, "He's really warm!"

Apparently brought back to reality by all the jostling, Jotaro let out a low groan and cracked his eyes open half way, before promptly shutting them again against the offending desert light. He moved to push himself up from against Joseph's chest, and Kakyoin could visibly see the muscles in his arms shaking with the effort. 'This is taking an awful lot out of him,' the younger teen thought anxiously, 'if JoJo is actually having trouble hiding this kind of physical weakness, he must be really ill.' Highly concerned but well aware that a hit to Jotaro's dignity would only make things worse, Kakyoin looped a hand subtly over the collar of his coat and pulled just enough so that JoJo could lean back against the seat without any other aid. The others didn't notice, and if Jotaro did he didn't give any indication, but Kakyoin caught Star Platinum shooting him a soft, grateful glance out of the corner of his eye.

Their leader's bright blue eyes finally fluttered open fully, glassy with fever yet somehow as intense as ever. "Wha..wha happened?" he slurred, glancing at Joseph expectantly.

The older Joestar laid a hand against his forehead as Kakyoin had done earlier, and smirked almost sadly, "You're sick, kiddo, that's all. No enemies this time, just, uh, germs, it would seem."

Kakyoin had the fleeting thought that a germ could potentially be an enemy stand, but he quickly dismissed the ridiculous notion. He pinched the bridge of his nose; the paranoia of almost constant attacks was getting to all of them.

Joseph pursed his lips, "Polnareff, would you see if we have a thermometer anywhere? There should be a first aid bag in the glove box." For a moment, Kakyoin was surprised at Joseph's resourcefulness, but then he remembered that the car they were currently using had been stolen from a small tourist company in Cairo, and was sure to be equipped in case of emergencies with customers. Polnareff nodded, before moving quickly off to collect the item. Joseph removed his hand from his grandson's forehead, running it through the dark hair there for a moment in an attempt to be comforting.

Jotaro just blinked, reaching up an unsteady hand to readjust his now askew hat. "Yare..yare." Kakyoin smiled.

When Polnareff came back with the thermometer, it read an alarming 103.9. Kakyoin cursed in Japanese under his breath, his hand unconsciously closing around Jotaro's wrist. "That's high. I don't like this."

Jotaro shot him a quick glance, and gave a muttered, "It's fine. I'll...sleep it off in'th car." But he didn't remove his arm from Kakyoin's grip, too sick to notice or too tired to care; either way, Kakyoin's anxiety levels weren't exactly dropping.

"Nonsense, Jotaro!" Joseph all but yelled, his voice low with authority, "We'll find a hotel in town. You can sleep there, and someone can run to a market for proper medication."

Jotaro's gaze flashed angrily at the obvious shift of leadership, "But-" he broke off in a cough.

His grandfather finished for him, fully establishing that he wasn't to be trifled with on this matter. "But nothing. Dio will be waiting for us when you're well. Besides, it wouldn't do any good to go into battle without every one of us at 100%."

Jotaro gave a low hum of annoyance, but made no other objection. Kakyoin and Polnareff both nodded to show their approval of the plan, and the two older men moved back to their seats in the front, the old car's engine sputtering to life a moment later.

Star Platinum had disappeared, and Jotaro's eyes were already starting to droop again, despite his obvious annoyance at the groggy feeling ensnaring his body. Kakyoin waited until they'd been closed for a few moments before moving his hand from his friend wrist and placing it flat against his chest, monitoring its slightly stuttered rise and fall. He smiled when Jotaro didn't make any move to shove him off; whether he was already asleep or not Kakyoin wasn't sure, but it felt surprisingly nice to be able to watch out for the older boy for once.

'You owe him your life,' A voice in the back of his head reminded him.

'That I do,' he thought back, 'perhaps more than that.'

"Get some rest, JoJo. I'll make sure you get better in time to kick Dio's ass."

It was probably his imagination, but he thought he saw his friend's lips twitch into the semblance of a smile.


End file.
